Tailwater

Origin

tail + water

Full definition of tailwater

Noun

1. The water located immediately downstream from a hydraulic structure, such as a dam, bridge, or culvert.
• 2008, May 27, Peter Kaminsky, Rules for Reservoirs Pose Threat to Trout Population, Like the more renowned Missouri and Henry’s Fork of Montana and Idaho, it is a tailwater fishery; that is, it owes its remarkable fecundity and its population of big wild trout to the cold-water outflow of reservoir impoundment.